NYC Rock & Roll Hall of Fame annex to close

<p>A man walks past a pair of glasses used by John Lennon at the "John Lennon: The New York City Years" exhibit at the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame Annex in New York May 11, 2009.Lucas Jackson</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Just one year after opening, the New York City annex to Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will close its doors on January 3, according to one of the corporate partners in the venture.

S2BN Entertainment announced the closure in a statement.

"There is no doubt the economy factored into our leaving, but overall we had a good year," said Caren Bell, spokeswoman for the 25,000 square foot annex in Manhattan's Soho district.

The offshoot to the main museum in Ohio opened to fanfare in November 2008 with Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailing it as another cultural destination for the roughly 46 million visitors to New York City every year.

The annex housed hundreds of artifacts, from Bruce Springsteen's 1957 Chevrolet to the wooden phone box from CBGB, the popular music venue that launched New York's punk scene in the 1970s and established the careers of bands such as The Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie.

The annex is reviewing opportunities to take some of the artifacts on tour, according to Bell.

The Cleveland Hall of Fame opened in September 1995 with an initial project cost of $92 million for land acquisition, construction costs, fees and equipment.

The nonprofit museum was built through a public-private partnership with the state of Ohio, the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and Cleveland area and music industry corporations and foundations.

The Cleveland museum generates more than $5 million in revenue annually for the state and local government and employs 936 people. Every year, it adds $100 million to Cleveland's economy, a museum spokeswoman said by email.